The Beautiful People
by Fiona Ma

Who’s Hu: Dangerous beauty Kelly Hu enforces law and order alongside Hong Kong martial arts superstar Sammo Hung and Arsenio Hall on the CBS hit series Martial Law.

“I always had an interest in martial arts, but I was never planning to base my career on it,” says Hu, 31, who first studied karate as a child.

Last year, Hu rose to prominence playing another “danger girl” cop on the TV series, Nash Bridges, starring Don Johnson and Cheech Marin. Viewers may also recognize Hu as Dr. Rae Chang in Aaron Spelling’s Sunset Beach and Melrose Place, or as Kirk Cameron’s love interest in a special episode of Growing Pains filmed in Hawaii, her home turf.

Born in Honolulu of Chinese, Hawaiian and English ancestry, Hu catapulted into the spotlight in 1985, when she was crowned Miss Teen USA. In 1993, she was crowned Miss Hawaii, and went on to become a finalist in the Miss USA pageant. That led to modeling assignments in the United States and abroad for clients such as Ivory Soap and Mary Kay Cosmetics. Hu is even a highly recognized celebrity in Italy as the Philadelphia Cream Cheese girl.

Hu lives in Los Angeles and continues her training in both karate (she is currently a brown belt) and kickboxing. She’s definitely dedicated to “kicking butt.”

A Virtuous Story: Lots of Asian American viewers watching the 1997 Academy Awards were proud to see Chris Tashima recognized for directing, co-writing and acting in his Best Live Action Short Film, Visa and Virtues.

The 26-minute drama (now available on home video by calling 800-343-5540 or through NAATA at 415-552-9550) poignantly pays tribute to Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese consul general who risked his career and saved 6,000 lives by issuing transit visas to Polish Jews fleeing the impending Holocaust in 1940.

In addition to winning the Academy Award, the film has won numerous other awards, including the First Place Fiction Prize at the USA Film Festival, the Crystal Heart Award from the Heartland Film Festival, the CINE Golden Eagle Award, the “Garcia de Paso” Human Values Award in Spain, and a Humanitarian Award from the Holocaust survivors organization, the 1939 Club.

Tashima is the eldest son of U.S. Circuit Court Judge A. Wallace Tashima. However, following in his father’s footsteps was not part of his plan.

As a child, he studied the violin for 10 years, visiting Japan twice to study with the late Sinichi Suzuki. At UC Santa Cruz, he studied film production and wrote, produced and directed several narrative shorts.

Tashima began acting after discovering the East/West Players Theater in Los Angeles and has since acted in many East/West Players productions. Fans can see more of Tashima in his soon-to-be released feature film, Lani Loa, directed by Sherwood Hu, a U.S.-China co-production for Wayne Wang and Francis Ford Coppola’s Chrome Dragon Films.

A Museum of a Different Kind: Filmmaker Jessica Yu, also a 1997 Academy Award-winner for her Best Documentary Short Subject film, Breathing Lessons, has finally completed her most current documentary project, The Living Museum.

For the past year, Yu has been filming artists whose artwork appears at the Living Museum, a 20,000-square-foot art studio and exhibition space on the grounds of the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center in Queens, New York. From the outside, the Living Museum looked like any other institutional building, but inside, Yu encountered bursts of color, energy, warmth and activity.

“The art is so wonderful,” Yu said, “and as a filmmaker, I want people to see what I see.”

The Living Museum follows six artists who work at the museum on a frequent or daily basis. After months of chronicling the art and lives of the six artists, they had the opportunity to attend one of the screenings.

“I’m pleased because the artists enjoyed the film,” Yu said. “But what was wonderful was to see people react to them after the screening -- bringing down the barriers.”

The Living Museum will be shown on HBO this month. For airing dates, visit http://www.hbo.com.